From staff, AP reports
news@joplinglobe.com
PICHER, Okla. — Two members of Oklahoma’s congressional delegation have secured an additional $9.5 million to relocate residents living in the Tar Creek Superfund Site in the Picher-Cardin area.
The funds are expected to narrow the amount needed to finish the voluntary move.
“By working together, we can ensure Oklahoma will no longer have the distinction of hosting one of the most severe Superfund sites in the country,” said Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., who was joined by Rep. Dan Boren, D-Okla., on Tuesday in making the announcement.
Boren said the money will provide those living within the 40-square-mile area in the former lead and zinc mining field “the opportunity for a brighter future.”
“I would like to thank the residents for their patience during this process,” he said.
Of the money announced this week, $3.5 million is part of a recent earmark Inhofe obtained, and the rest is being provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through a change in the law that is expected to make future earmarks unnecessary.
An Inhofe aide said more money will be needed, but not much more.
Oklahoma Secretary of Environment J.D. Strong, in a telephone interview Wednesday, said the money is now available to the Lead-Impacted Communities Relocation Assistance Trust. He said he expects no interruption in the buyout of families in Picher and Cardin.
He said the trust has not in recent weeks taken a snapshot of where the buyout is in terms of how much more money might be needed to complete the project. In July, the trust estimated that it needed $24 million to complete the job.
“It looks like we might need an additional $14 million to $15 million to complete the job,” Strong said. “We are spending about $2 million a month, so this money will take us to the end of the year.”
Inhofe and EPA officials continue to work together to ensure funding for the project to relocate residents from lead-polluted and undermined homes in Ottawa County.
The EPA has worked with federal, state and tribal partners for almost three decades to clean up the Tar Creek site.
The area includes the communities of Cardin, Hockerville and Picher. It was the site of decades of lead and zinc mining, and has been plagued by mine collapses, open mine shafts, acid mine water that stains Tar Creek orange and mountains of lead-contaminated mine waste called chat.
Local children repeatedly test high for dangerous levels of lead in their blood.
Another blow
The region suffered another blow on May 10 when a strong tornado flattened much of Picher, resulting in seven deaths.
Local News
$9.5 million cited for Picher buyout
- Local News
-
-
Couple 'scoop out' ice cream business from the past
When 3-year-old Brynlee Rabel tried coconut ice cream for the first time Tuesday, it was love at first taste. “She got the vanilla, but when she tasted my coconut ice cream she had to have it,” said Kayleigh Daugherty, a Joplin resident who wanted Brynlee to share the same experience she had as a little girl when she visited Anderson’s Ice Cream.
-
Missouri National Guard releases records involving soldiers who looted from Wal-Mart
The Missouri National Guard has released records confirming that four soldiers were disciplined for taking merchandise from the ruins of a Wal-Mart store in Joplin one day after the tornado that devastated the city a year ago.
-
Joplin school board awards contract to complete demolition of JHS
The Joplin Board of Education on Tuesday night accepted a bid for finishing tornado-related demolition at the high school.
-
Auditor cites, commission covers potential shortfall in Jasper County sheriff’s budget
The Jasper County Commission on Tuesday approved the transfer of $23,000 onto the Law Enforcement Sales Tax fund available to the sheriff’s office to cover a potential budget shortfall.
-
Joplin METS director requests space for additional ambulance
If all goes like METS Director Jason Smith hopes, this time next year the service will have two ambulances in Webb City, housed in their own station. At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, Smith requested that the council allow the Joplin-based Metro Emergency Transport System to rent or lease space at the former public works building, 110 E. Church St.
-
Mike Pound: Food competitions combine to make culinary heaven
It’s such a great idea, you wonder why someone didn’t think of it before. In fact, it’s such a good idea that it’s possible it came about by accident.
-
Mo. court strikes down part of 2008 harassment law
The Missouri Supreme Court has struck down part of a state harassment law enacted after the suicide of a St. Charles County teenager who was teased over the Internet.
-
Cattle rustlers strike again in SW Mo. county
The plague of cattle rustling goes on in southwest Missouri’s Greene County.
Sheriff Jim Arnott says the latest episode occurred sometime Sunday in Walnut Grove. -
Bids sought for Cherokee County water treatment plant
After many delays, construction bids are being sought for a water treatement plant and water tank for the Spring River Public Wholesale Water District No. 19.
-
Dog helps some get through the court process
Sophie, a mutt of a dog with draping ears and dotted brows, is helping people in St. Louis County court tell stories of crime to judges, investigators and attorneys.
- More Local News Headlines
-
